General anesthesia makes you unconscious and pain-free during surgery, ensuring you don’t feel or remember anything while surgeons perform the procedure safely.

General anesthesia is a procedure in which you’re given medications to make you unconscious and unable to feel pain during surgery or other medical treatments.

It affects your entire body, causing a deep, temporary loss of awareness, sensation, and memory, allowing doctors to perform procedures without causing you any discomfort or distress.

General anesthesia is always administered and monitored by a physician specializing in administering anesthesia. Keep reading to get all of your questions about general anesthesia answered.

General anesthesia is used to ensure that you’re unconscious, pain-free, and immobile during major surgeries or medical procedures. It’s commonly used for operations that would otherwise be too painful or distressing if you were awake, such as:

  • major surgeries (e.g., heart, brain, or abdominal surgery)
  • procedures requiring complete stillness (e.g., joint replacement or back surgery)
  • emergency surgeries
  • complex diagnostic tests (e.g., some types of endoscopy)

General anesthesia vs. local anesthesia

General anesthesia affects the entire body, rendering you unconscious and unresponsive during surgery. It’s typically used for major surgeries.

Local anesthesia numbs only a specific area, keeping you awake but pain-free in that targeted region. It’s typically used for minor procedures, like dental work or small skin surgeries.

General anesthesia is a combination of medications designed to induce unconsciousness and prevent pain during surgery.

Five main classes of anesthetic agents include:

  • Intravenous (IV) Anesthetics (e.g., propofol, etomidate, ketamine, dexmedetomidine): These medications are administered through a vein to induce rapid unconsciousness to start and maintain anesthesia.
  • Inhalational Anesthetics (e.g., sevoflurane, desflurane, nitrous oxide): These anesthetics are delivered as gases that you breathe in during the procedure, primarily used to maintain anesthesia.
  • IV Sedatives (e.g., midazolam, diazepam, lorazepam): Given intravenously, these medications provide sedation and help reduce anxiety before anesthesia, often causing amnesia during the procedure.
  • Synthetic Opioids (e.g., fentanyl, sufentanil, remifentanil): These potent pain relievers are usually administered intravenously to manage pain during and after surgery but can cause respiratory depression.
  • Neuromuscular Blocking Drugs (NMBDs) (e.g., succinylcholine, atracurium, vecuronium): Administered through an IV, these drugs cause temporary muscle paralysis by blocking nerve signals, which aids in intubation and surgical procedures.

Scientists don’t fully understand how general anesthesia works in the brain, but they do know that anesthetics target specific receptors. For instance, by targeting GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors, neural activity is reduced leading to relaxation and sedation.

The possible side effects of general anesthesia can vary based on a person’s health, the type of surgery, and the duration of anesthesia. Common ones include:

  • Nausea and vomiting: Common side effects that can occur during recovery.
  • Sore throat: Due to the breathing tube placed during the procedure.
  • Confusion or memory loss: More common in older adults, temporarily affecting cognitive function after waking up.
  • Allergic reactions: Rare, but some people may have a reaction to the anesthetic drugs.
  • Breathing problems: Complications related to the breathing tube or lung function.
  • Heart issues: Changes in heart rate, blood pressure, or heart attack, especially in those with preexisting heart conditions.
  • Malignant hyperthermia: A rare genetic condition that causes a severe reaction to anesthesia, leading to a rapid increase in body temperature and muscle rigidity.
  • Aspiration: Breathing stomach contents into the lungs, which can lead to pneumonia.

To wake you up from general anesthesia, the anesthesiologist gradually reduces or stops the medications that are keeping you unconscious. Once the effects of the anesthetic drugs wear off, your body will start to regain consciousness.

During this process, you’re closely monitored for signs of waking up, such as breathing on your own and responding to stimuli. If you were given muscle relaxants, medications called “reversal agents” may also be administered to help speed up the recovery of muscle function.

As you wake up, you might feel groggy or disoriented. The medical team will continue to monitor your vital signs to ensure a smooth and safe recovery.

Not all general anesthesia requires intubation. In some cases, alternative airway management methods, like a laryngeal mask airway, may be used instead.

Intubation is typically needed for longer procedures or those involving the chest or abdomen where deeper control over the airway and breathing is necessary.

General anesthesia is a vital medical practice that involves using drugs to ensure you remain unconscious and pain-free during procedures.

While the exact mechanisms are still being studied, anesthetics work by affecting brain receptors and influencing neural connectivity.

Advances in research continue to improve our knowledge of these processes, enhancing patient safety and comfort.